Notice2026-06829
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Bruce Museum Inc., Greenwich, CT
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 9, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Bruce Museum, Inc. intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of sacred objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17987-17988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06829]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N7073; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0042577; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Bruce Museum Inc., Greenwich, CT
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Bruce Museum, Inc. intends to repatriate
certain cultural items that meet the definition of sacred objects and
that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after May 11, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Kirsten J. Reinhardt, the Bruce
Museum, One Museum Drive Greenwich, CT 06830, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#274c55424e494f465543536745555244424a525442524a09485540"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b6ddc4d3dfd8ded7c4d2c2f6d4c4c3d5d3dbc3c5d3c3db98d9c4d1">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA.
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
Bruce Museum, Inc., and additional information on the determinations in
this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the
summary or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
A total of five cultural items have been requested for
repatriation. The five scared objects are two umbilical cord holders
(one is a pair), two hand drums, and one rattle.
I.02025 Red cotton fabric, stuffed, and tied into the shape of a
lizard. Exterior wrapped with a string of beads, mainly white, mixed
with red, green, blue, and yellow. Pairs of tin tinklers with remnant
red feathers attached. Contents unknown. No testing to determine
contents was performed. Undocumented acquisition history or cultural
affiliation, geographical location is considered to be the Great
Plains.
16123.a-.b Pair of attached, flat, diamond shaped, stuffed, beaded,
sinew sewn, tanned hide, umbilical cord containers. Top beaded in bands
of light blue, yellow, red, green, blue, & pink; tin cones with remnant
horsehair at end
[[Page 17988]]
of four looped buckskin strings; remnant red quill wrap on strings.
Contents unknown, no testing to determine contents was performed.
Undocumented acquisition history or cultural affiliation, geographical
location is considered to be the Great Plains.
00158.10 Hand drum. Single piece bent wood circular frame, bison
skin head. Perimeter painted blue; at center is a wide-eyed bison head
with wavy lines below, and two concentric blue discs, connected by a
blue wavy line. Made at Fort Peck, c.1889, by Siyosapa, aka Dr. Black
Prairie Chicken, Hunkpapa Lakota/Yanktonai Nakota. Donated to the Bruce
in 1927, from the collection of William H. Tallmadge who served as a
Special Indian Agent from 1888-1889.
00158.11 Hand drum. Single piece bent wood circular frame, bison
skin heads. Two bison horns attached to top by nails and rawhide lace.
Perimeter painted in concentric circles of blue and green. Center is a
narrow-faced bison, blue outline, red face, eyes, nostrils, and mane.
Made at Fort Peck, c.1889, by Siyosapa, aka Dr. Black Prairie Chicken,
Hunkpapa Lakota/Yanktonai Nakota. Donated to the Bruce in 1927, from
the collection of William H. Tallmadge who served as a Special Indian
Agent from 1888-1889.
00407.33 Rattle. Gourd and painted hide (likely bison scrotum)
containing pebbles; wood handle wrapped in ribbon. Painted in deep
blue: skeletal face wearing a hood. Attributed to the Bird collection,
gifted in 1938, more likely part of the Tallmadge collection, see
above.
No potentially hazardous materials were used to treat any of the
cultural items.
Determinations
The Bruce Museum, Inc. has determined that:
<bullet> The five sacred objects described in this notice are
specific ceremonial objects needed by a traditional Native American
religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional
Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional
knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian
organization.
<bullet> There is a connection between the cultural items described
in this notice and the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck
Indian Reservation, Montana.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified
in this notice under ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be
submitted by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization.
Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor
may occur on or after May 11, 2026. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Bruce Museum, Inc. must determine the
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint
repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and
not competing requests. The Bruce Museum, Inc. is responsible for
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting
parties.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: April 1, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-06829 Filed 4-8-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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